Free courses covering topics on children's physical and mental health, understanding their feelings and how to build better relationships are available for anyone with a Leicester, Leicestershire or Rutland postcode.

Over 1250 local families and professionals have already registered for and completed courses, and nearly all (99 per cent) would recommend them to others.

Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust has partnered with The Solihull Approach to offer free access to these expertly designed online courses, which cover concerns that parents, carers, grandparents often face with all children, from before they are born to early adulthood. Issues that affect children with additional needs - including learning disabilities and autism - are covered in many of the courses, as well as in the 'understanding your child with additional needs' course. 

These courses include the same content as you would receive in a typical face-to-face parenting group run by health visitors. They are available in 108 languages, with voiceovers in English and Urdu. Each course has a number of different components, and they can be accessed at any time and any place. 

Parents have shared their feedback on the courses, commenting:

"These courses are helpful and worth doing. Thank you for providing them to help families like mine."

"Really helpful courses and easy to access. Really found it beneficial whilst I was waiting for my son to be seen by CAMHS."

"Loved the course, it really gave me an insight into brain development and how that impacts on my children."

Victoria Evans, a service group manager from Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust, said: "It's fantastic to hear the enthusiastic and positive feedback about these courses and that they're really helping our young people and families. We all know that any information that supports families is vital to more positive outcomes for young people. I hope that more people take advantage of what's on offer and access the courses now, and all the new courses that will be added in the future."

Courses that have been added recently include: understanding the impact of the pandemic on your child; understanding your relationships; understanding your child's feelings; as well as additional resources on improving sleep. 

Other courses include:

• Understanding pregnancy, labour, birth and your baby 
• Understanding your baby 
• Understanding your child - 0-19 years 
• Understanding your child with additional needs
• Understanding the impact of the pandemic on your teenager
• Understanding your teenager's brain 
• Understanding your brain 
• Understanding your child's feelings 
• Understanding your child's mental health and wellbeing 
• Understanding your relationships

All courses are free to access for anyone with a Leicester, Leicestershire or Rutland postcode – it just requires users to create an account to access them – and once you sign up you have lifetime access to these courses and all future ones to be added.

More details, including how to register and access the courses, are available at online. Please use the access code: CURVE when signing up.